Chemical Industry SCM Event in Newtown Square, December 8th-9th

As many of you are already aware, SAP is sponsoring a Customer Network Supply Chain event on 8 – 9 December at their headquarters in Newtown Square ( Philadelphia area ), PA. As part of this two day event, the members of our virtual roundtable will have the opportunity to meet face to face for the first time and conduct a special session on the afternoon of 8 December where we will focus on Supply Chain responses to the current economic crises. Specifically, what actions can we take over the next two quarters to help our respective companies ” survive ” over the next 18 months beyond the typical actions ( eliminate travel and entertainment, cut consultants, postpone capital investments, hiring freezes, etc ) normally employed.

Our agenda will begin at noon and include presentations by SAP ( Chris Foti will provide Chemical industry benchmark data that identifies what top quartile performance looks like ), Steve Crane from Air Products will provide information on how to create more agility in your supply chain in order to respond to rapid changes in demand, Accenture will provide guidance on how high performing companies manage their cost reductions strategically and strengthen their positions rather than executing ” slash and burn ” cost cutting when the economy turns, and I will provide suggestions on actions that can be taken quickly to leverage your existing IT infrastructure to significantly reduce costs. We will also have an informal break out session where we can talk about the plusses and minuses of these various actions. We will finish up with a keynote address from Dr Larry Lapide who launched MIT’s Supply Chain 2020 project and he will speak to the business processes and strategies of demand management including insights into his research with the Demand Management Solution Group. All of this will be capped off with a networking dinner with beer/wine tasting beginning at 6pm.

The second day agenda on 9 December for those of you who choose to stay will include a number of customer case studies including Kimberly- Clark ( customer driven SCM vision ), Black and Decker ( global available to promise ), Coca-Cola ( downstream demand data ), Rohm & Haas ( inventory optimization ) and Bayer ( PP/DS ). Day two should wrap up around 4pm.

I certainly hope you can break loose from the daily grind and join us on 8 -9 December in Newtown Square. We have tried to make the agenda relevant to our current economic situation so that you can return home with ideas that can be implement immediately.

If you have any questions feel free to contact either myself or Dave Fowler ( david.fowler@sap.com ) and we will be happy to provide as much follow-up information as possible.

I hope to see and meet many of you for the first time on Monday, 8 December